Psalm 43 continues the ache of Psalm 42 (LXX Psalm 41), but it sharpens the prayer. The soul does not merely ask to feel better. It asks God to judge, deliver, send light and truth, and bring it to the holy mountain and altar. St Augustine hears the voice of the Church in pilgrimage, still living among the tares but asking God to separate her cause from the ungodly. In Christ, Light and Truth are not ideas sent from God. They are the Lord Himself, leading the soul to worship.
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 43 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 42. The Septuagint combines NKJV Psalms 9 and 10 as LXX Psalm 9, shifting the numbering here by one. |
| Accepted author | Brenton’s LXX text begins “A Psalm of David.” No particular episode in David’s life is named. |
| Period in author’s life | No precise event is named. The Psalm continues the previous Psalm’s exile-like longing and moves toward return to God’s altar. |
| Christ prophecy status | Typological and ecclesial fulfillment. Christ is the Light and Truth who leads the Church to the Father. John 8:12 and John 14:6 illuminate this Christian reading; the New Testament does not directly quote this Psalm in those passages. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | The Book of Agpeya includes the whole Psalm in the Third Hour and Veil Prayer. A dated Holy Fifty Days Matins reading for Monday of the fourth week prints Psalm 43:3 with Mark 4:30–34. |
| Numbering issue | The embedded Brenton text is LXX Psalm 42. The Agpeya prints the heading Psalm 42 (43) for this Psalm. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 43 is short, but it is not small. Its refrain links it tightly with Psalm 42 (LXX Psalm 41). Brenton’s LXX text gives it a Davidic heading, which the guide preserves without forcing a specific life setting.
The movement is from complaint to worship. The Psalmist asks God to plead his cause, deliver him from the unjust and crafty man, send light and truth, lead him to the holy mountain, and bring him to the altar. The Psalm is the answer to Psalm 42’s thirst: the soul needs not only water, but guidance back into communion.
Fr Tadros Malaty reads the lament in the light of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. In that pastoral reading, suffering and the hope of communion with God are held together; the hope does not require us to pretend that the suffering is unreal.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The geography is liturgical: holy mountain, tabernacles, altar. The Psalm aims toward Zion and worship. Spiritually, it also describes the Church’s movement from exile to Eucharistic nearness. The place matters because worship is not vague inward feeling. God leads the soul somewhere, into His holy presence.
The Characters 👥
The praying soul. The troubled soul of the preceding Psalm, now asking for judgment, deliverance, guidance, and return to the altar.
The ungodly nation and unjust man. The hostile and deceitful powers from which God’s servant asks to be delivered.
God. Strength, judge, deliverer, and the One who sends light and truth.
Light and Truth. In Augustine’s Christian reading, fulfilled personally in Christ, who calls Himself the light of the world and the way, the truth, and the life.
The altar. The place of sacrifice, joy, thanksgiving, and sacramental approach to God.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 43:1–2 (LXX Psalm 42:1–2), judge me and deliver me
42:1 A Psalm of David. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause, against an ungodly nation: deliver me from the unjust and crafty man. 42:2 For thou, O God, art my strength: wherefore hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sad of countenance, while the enemy oppresses me?
The Psalmist asks God to judge him. That can sound frightening until we understand what he wants judged: his cause. He asks God to distinguish truth from deceit and to deliver him from injustice. He calls God his strength, yet in the same breath asks why he feels cast off. Faith can bring both trust and that painful question to God.
St Augustine reads this as the voice of Christ’s Body living in pilgrimage. The Church still dwells among the tares until the harvest. She may share outward sufferings with the ungodly, but she asks God to guard her cause and her longing for Him. Augustine writes: “Our infirmity is the same; but our consciences not the same: our sufferings the same; but our longings not the same.”1 This is not an invitation to judge another person’s heart; it is a call to entrust our own cause to God.
St Athanasius, in his Letter to Marcellinus, recommends this Psalm to someone pursued by violent enemies who must appeal to God’s righteous judgment.
The question “why do I go sad of countenance?” carries forward the previous Psalm’s ache. Faith does not pretend the face is always bright. But it brings the sad face before God rather than surrendering it to the enemy. The sorrow itself is not surrender; even asking why can be an act of trust.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Believers and unbelievers may share the same suffering, but their longing is different.” “Faith brings the sad face before God.”
- Emphasize: Judgment here is a plea for God to distinguish truth from deceit.
- Avoid: Turning “ungodly nation” into culture-war commentary or assuming that suffering reveals the state of another person’s heart.
Psalm 43:3 (LXX Psalm 42:3), light and truth lead to the holy mountain
42:3 Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have led me, and brought me to thy holy mountain, and to thy tabernacles.
This is the heart of the Psalm. The soul does not merely ask for a better mood. It asks for light and truth: for God to make a way through oppression and bring it back to worship. Sorrow can be an honest response to harm; the need for guidance is not proof that sadness is a spiritual failure. The grieving person needs patient comfort as well as light for the way.
Notice the movement of the words. The Psalmist asks God to send forth light and truth, then says that they have led and brought him. Augustine hears both a gift already received and a hope still ahead: Christ has brought His people into the Church, yet they continue to ask to be led into the fullness of communion with God.
Augustine identifies the Light and Truth with Christ. They are two names, but one reality in the Person of the Lord, who calls Himself “the light of the world” and “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 8:12; 14:6). This is not decorative Christology. It means guidance is personal. God does not merely give information to the soul. He gives His Son.
The Light and Truth do not lead the soul into private spiritual self-absorption. They lead to the holy mountain and tabernacles. Christ leads the soul into the worshipping life of the Church, into repentance, praise, Eucharist, and the communion of the saints.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrase: “Guidance is personal. God gives His Son.”
- Emphasize: The Psalm asks for guidance from the God whose gifts have already begun to lead His people.
- Avoid: Reducing light and truth to information, opinions, or apologetics—or treating sadness itself as evidence of disorientation.
Psalm 43:4 (LXX Psalm 42:4), the altar and the God who gladdens youth
42:4 And I will go in to the altar of God, to God who gladdens my youth: I will give thanks to thee on the harp, O God, my God.
The destination is the altar—but the Psalmist longs for more than a place. He longs for God at the altar. Augustine’s exposition rises from the earthly altar to the invisible altar above. He speaks of the worshipper becoming an offering. This fits the Orthodox understanding of worship: we do not merely watch a sacrifice. We are gathered into Christ’s self-offering.
“God who gladdens my youth” is not nostalgia. Augustine interprets youth as newness. In Christ, the soul becomes young not by denying age or suffering, but by receiving new life. That renewal is God’s gift, not a demand that a grieving person immediately feel young or cheerful.
The altar also keeps the Psalm from vague spirituality. The soul’s hope is sacramental: the One who leads His people gathers them to give thanks and to receive life in Him.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “The worshipper himself becomes the offering.” “Youth means newness.”
- Emphasize: The altar is the destination of guidance because the Psalmist longs for God.
- Avoid: Speaking about worship as if it were only personal inspiration.
Psalm 43:5 (LXX Psalm 42:5), hope in God again
42:5 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? Hope in God; for I will give thanks to him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
The refrain returns from the previous Psalm, but now the soul has prayed for light, truth, mountain, tabernacle, and altar. Hope is no longer a vague command to cheer up. It is anchored in worship.
The phrase “health of my countenance” places even the outward signs of grief before God’s saving care. This does not mean instant emotional brightness, nor does a sad face prove resentment. The Psalm gives the troubled soul words with which to wait for God, even while it still feels troubled.
The final words are decisive: “my God.” The Psalm began with opposition and cast-off grief, but it ends with personal belonging. The enemy has not disappeared, but the soul has been re-claimed by worship. The refrain gives us somewhere to return; it does not set a deadline for grief.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Hope is anchored in worship.” “The enemy has not disappeared, but the soul has been re-claimed by worship.”
- Emphasize: The refrain is heard after the prayer to be led to God’s altar.
- Avoid: Treating the ending as an immediate emotional resolution.
The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪
The Book of Agpeya prints this Psalm under the heading Psalm 42 (43). Its English wording sometimes differs from Brenton’s, including in the prayer for light and truth to lead the worshipper.
- Agpeya Third Hour: The whole Psalm is included in the Third Hour. Its prayer for light and truth fits the hour’s attention to the Holy Spirit. The same hour includes John 14:26–15:4, where Christ promises the Comforter and calls His disciples to abide in Him.
- Veil Prayer: The whole Psalm is also included in the Veil Prayer. Its plea to be brought to the holy mountain and altar fits a time of watchfulness. The prayer’s Gospel, John 6:15–23, presents Christ coming toward His fearful disciples on the sea.
- Holy Fifty Days Matins: A dated reading for Monday of the fourth week prints Psalm 43:3, corresponding to Brenton’s LXX Psalm 42:3, with Mark 4:30–34. The Gospel speaks of the kingdom growing from a small mustard seed. In the joy of the Resurrection, the Church prays to be led by Christ toward the worship for which she longs.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 43 can be contemplated beside icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection, and Christ Pantocrator. In Christian reading, the Light sent by God is Christ Himself, not merely illumination around Him. The Psalm’s holy mountain points toward Zion; it can also invite reflection on the mountain of the Transfiguration and the Church’s ascent into worship. The altar connection makes the Psalm suitable beside Eucharistic iconography: Christ the High Priest and the Church offering thanksgiving in Him.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Ask for light, truth, and comfort. Bring sorrow honestly to God, and receive patient care from those who can accompany you.
- Let Christ separate your cause from deceit. Do not define yourself by an enemy’s accusation.
- Return to the altar. Private prayer is essential, but the Psalm’s destination is worship and communion with God.
- Receive newness. The God who gladdens youth renews the inner person even when circumstances are old and heavy.
- Speak hope after prayer, not instead of prayer. The refrain has power because the soul has first asked to be led by God.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 70 to 80 minutes.
- Where to linger: Psalm 43:3–4 (LXX Psalm 42:3–4). Notice both the request to send and the words “they have led me.”
- Where to compress: Psalm 43:1 (LXX Psalm 42:1) can be explained briefly and pastorally.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Guidance is personal. God gives His Son.”
- Pastoral warning: Avoid turning this Psalm into a generic lesson on optimism. Its hope is ecclesial and sacramental, grounded in Christ and the altar; it makes room for a face that is still sad.
- Accuracy note: Brenton gives the Psalm a Davidic heading. The guide follows MT/NKJV Psalm 43, while the Scripture blocks retain LXX Psalm 42.
Glossary
- LXX Psalm 42: Septuagint/Coptic numbering for NKJV Psalm 43.
- Light and Truth: Understood by Augustine as fulfilled personally in Christ, who is the Light of the world and the Truth.
- Holy mountain: Zion and, in Christian spiritual reading, the Church’s approach to God.
- Tabernacles: Dwelling places associated with worship and divine presence.
- Altar: The place of sacrifice and thanksgiving, read in the Church’s life in relation to Christ and the Eucharist.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX). The Scripture blocks retain Brenton’s Psalm and verse labels; explanatory references use MT/NKJV numbering first and give the LXX counterpart.
A Holy Fifty Days cycle reference lists a Vespers reading as Psalm 43:5. The dated fourth-week service instead prints Psalm 42:5, with a shared refrain but a different ending. The shared words alone do not establish that these are identical complete-verse appointments.
Sources
Scripture: Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 42; John 8:12; John 14:6; Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43.
Patristic witness: St Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, English Psalm XLIII, Latin Psalm XLII, especially sections 2 and 4–5. The English translation for this Psalm is by J. E. Tweed; A. Cleveland Coxe edited and condensed the volume, with Philip Schaff as general editor. Augustine is a witness to wider Christian exegesis, not a certificate of a complete Coptic consensus. St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus, in the guidance concerning LXX Psalm 42.
Coptic Orthodox and pastoral sources: Book of Agpeya, Third Hour and Veil Prayer, Psalm 42 (43); Holy Fifty Days readings for 11 May 2020, Matins and Vespers. Fr Tadros Malaty, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 43, offers a modern Coptic pastoral reading; his reported patristic quotations require their own source verification.
Further reading: Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms; Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50; Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary; James L. Mays, Psalms. These are suggested for further study, not cited here as support for a particular interpretation of this Psalm.